MR. RICHMOND, M.H.R., AT RICHMOND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 293, 18 December 1878, Page 5

MR. RICHMOND, M.H.R., AT RICHMOND.

Mr Richmond addressed his constituents last night at the Agricultural Hall, about thirty being presaut. Mr Kelling having been voted to the chair, Mr Richmond eaid : Gentlemen, — Before commencing to tell you anything of our doings in the session which has just closed, it is my duty lo apologise for not BBking you to mccl me last year, my reason and excuse for not doing bo being, that I was thoroughly knocked up and ill, after a long and severe session, and when it was prorogued you were all in the midst of harvest, so that I thought it would be but a poor compliment to ask. you lo meet me when you were co busily engaged, and judging by tbe email attendance at meetiogs called by other Nelson member?, I think I was right in not asking you to do so during that busy season of the year. You may say thai the same reason holds good this year, and indeed I have seen a letter to that effect in one of the papers ; that is quite true, and I will acknowledge that it is an inconvenient time for some, but it is difficult to find a more convenient one. If I put off meeting you soon after the session as I unfortunately was compelled to do last year, I find it has two bad results. la the first place most of the important matters that have taken place during the session have escaped our memories or lost their interest, and in the second we are driven into the time of corn harvest, so that it is very difficult to know what time in the year would be most suitable to a constituency principally oomposed of farmers. I have looked at what ia done by members representing districts similar to mine, and find that they call their meetings at this time of the year in preference to doing co later, and in a far more busy and important time to farmers. There whs anotberjeircumstance which made it difficult for me to hold the usual meetings at even a later time last year. The manager of my abeep Btation, who bad been some years with me in Marlborough, suddenly left, consequently entailing upon me a good deal of business, taking up nearly all my time, and necessitating long absences from Nelson, so that my not meeting you wqs entirely occasioned by the force of circumstances, and not from any discourtesy or carelessness or my part, to which I trust any one who knows me will not attribute it. No doubt many here present will remember that the result of the session of 1877 was placing Sir George Grey and hia Government in office, and the feeling of the country then was to allow tbecn to remain, in order that they might have au opportunity of brieging forward those measures of reform which they and their supporters were always alluding to es essential to tbe good government and welfare of the people, and the progress and prosperity of tbe colony. The Opposition, if it may be so called, at once saw tbe reaonableness of this, am l , bowing to the opinion of the people, have allowed the Government to remain in office for now more than a year, without making tbe slightest effort to displace them ; in faot, allowing them to have everything almo3t their own way In addition to this, Sir Georga Grey took advantage of the rece3S, almost as soon as Parliament was prorogued, and visited all the principal towns and centres of population, when be told them of all the reform measures the Government were about to bring forward, tbe corruption in tbe administration of affaire, which would now be put an end to ; the taxation which was to be removed from the shoulders of the poor man, and saddled on the rich ; the franchise that was to be so liberal that every man should have a vote, and so enabled to take part in the affairs of his country ; in fact, manhood suffrage. Of course, upon this liberal reform policy Sir George Grey carried the whole country with him, and was received everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm. It ie curious, and will ba interesting to you now, to ace how far this liberal policy was given effect to, and how far thesa promises have been carried out. I will endeavor briefly to show you, but to explain at tbe length I should wish would trespass too long on your time. The reform po'icy of the Govern* ment, as brought down to Parliament, was embodied in five Bills — The Electoral, Customs Tariff Amendment, Beer Tax, Joint Stcck Companies' TaXj and JJsud Tax. Now, though

the Government had a large majority iv the House, and were apparently supported by tbe country, they could only carry two out of these five measures containing their reform policy, and those two very much altered and amended, cot however, so much by the action of the Opposition, as by that of their own friends and supporters, some of whom were independent-minded enough to see through the miserable, half hearted measures, and told the Government they could not support them. The Government were even challenged to go to the country, by requesting the Governor to grant them a disolution, and to ask the people what they thought of their measures, but they had not the courage. Now I will refer to the Bills, and will take them in the order in which I have named them. THE ELECTORAL BILL was supposed to be a vast stride in electoral reform, it was to give a vote to every man resident two years in the colony, or resident six months in an electoral district, and was to place upon tbe roll, and do justice to about 70,000 illused persons, who at present did not enjoy that privilege. The Bill as first introduced by the Government contained nothing very objectionable, but many thought, myself among the number, that a more simple form of registration than ws have at present would be an easier manner, and just as effective in placing every one who was entitled to a vote upon the roll, and thus give them a voice in the government of the country. However the Bill was allowed to proceed, but whan it was in Committee the Premier and Native Minister introduced a clause to give the Maori an extra or dual vote, that is, he ehoulJ bave a vote as n ratepayer as well as a property holder, however small his interest ia the property might be — you must remember in considering this proposition of tbe Government that tbe Maoris have a special representation in Parliament, returning four members of their own race to the Lower House and two appointed to the Legislative Council— this new proposal, therefore, quite astonished svoryono, as it was placing tbe native electors in bo much better a position thun the Europeans, and in faot completely swamping; several of (he European electoral districts id the Northern Island. The Government having put on] all the pressure in their power, managed to carry the clause through the House by a small majority, but the 'Legislative Council struck it out, thereby restoring the Bill to its original shape, as introduced by the Government themselves. The Government did not appear to like their Bill back in its original form, and used every effort to induce the Legislative Council to allow tbe clause to stand, and because they would not consent to do so and allow this extra electoral privilege to about 5000 Natives this Reform Government threw up their Bill, sacrificing these 70,000 European settlers, who were for the first lime to have tbesa electoral rights conferred upon them, and abandoning manhood sufrage, residental qualification, and every other electoral reform tbat wa heard so much about during the recess. So much for this Reform Electoral Bill, and so much for a Goveromaot who Racrificed all their electoral reform principles because they could not obtain special advantages for one race of people to the detriment and [disadvantage of another. THE CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT we albo heird a great deal about ilnriDg the recess. It was to equalize the tariff and give a free breakfast table to tbe poor man, and everyone thought, Here is a measure of financial reform, which will lessen the burdens of the laboring classes, and place them on the right shoulders, but tbe Financial Statement showed that was not the erne. The financial reform was described as n tallow chandler's affair, with no broad principle of finance about it. To be sure it altered tbe mode of collection by removing various articles from ad valorem doty to fixed duties, and taking the duty altogether from somj m : n>r articles, amongst which, I should not forget to mention, are perambulators, so that the poor man's child could get a chejp ri Je. These changes appeared to us a more complicated mauner of collecting the revenue. Then it took a half peuny oil' sugar, two pence off tea, reduced Australian wine to two shillings a gallon, allowed fencing wire in free, woo! p&cM almost so. Does any one think this is a poor tnaa'g tariff, and will take any burden from

his shoulders ? Do any of you believe that you will get your tea and sugar cheaper, but you may got cheaper Australian wine, wire fencing;, wool bales, and perambulators, and , the loss : to the revenue alone from the reduction on tea and sugar is estimated at about £117,000, which sum will have to be made up by some means or other. Then the duty is removed from imported grain and flour which I thought was a great hardship upon the agriculturists. Though not a protectionisf, I thought the farmers were justly entitled to this small amount of protection, when we consider that we are [paying subsidies to the San Francisco steamers, to which every farmer contributes his share, and the fact that a ton of flour can be produced there much cheaper than here, ao that the result will be that the market will be flooded with American flour. We have already heard of large or d era having been sent there especially from Auckland, where the steamer calls. Do you expect aoy advantage from this reduction, will any of us get our bread cheaper? I think not. So I moved a resolution to the effect that the duty, on flour and grain should be retained, but the resolution was lost. The duly of one shilling upon every hundred feet of timber, is also taken off, which, I think, will result in the importation of inferior cheap timber to compete in our markets with our own. As I said before, I am no protectionist, but I am of opinion that these two Colonial industries want & little help. THE BEEE TAX BILL was, you all know, thrown out by the House, no one doubted the ability of the brewers to pay the tax, but of course it "would have pressed heavily upon them, and the great argument ill ita favour, was that it would produce about £50,000 a year, with liUle or no expense in collecting ; however it was thought not a fair financial proposal to tax one particular industry, that it was also inquisitorial and difficult to work, that the tax was high, and would be severely felt, and the result would be, that it would eventually all fall upon the poorer class, who generally are the largest consumers, as was immediately shown by the brewers and publicans raising the price. The Bill was defeated and the brewers, as the tax was levied before the Bill passed, had their money returned to them. JOINT STOCK COMPANIES Tax Tho chief objection to this Bill was, that the tax only fell upon Companies belonging to the Colony, while Foreign Companies, doing in aomecase3a much larger business got oil" scot free, and so unjust was this thought, that the Government soon found that they could not carry the Bill, and they therefore wisely withdrew it. LANI> TAX BILL • This is the last of the five Bills to which I alluded, aa containing the Government policy. The Bill as you all know was carried, and is now law, not however as introduced by the Government, but with considerable amendments and modifications. Good reasons were given, to my mind, why a tax should be put upon land which the Public Works policy had so much increased in value that the owners who benefi fcted should contribute to the cost of the railway lines. That to my mind has always been a sound argument, and ought to have been acted upon before, for I certainly strongly object to districts where hardly a sixpence of public money has been speufc. and nofc a mile of railway made, in fact, in no way participating in the Public Works policy being called on to pay the same amount of taxation as the more favoured parts of the colony, thereby assisting them to make additional length of lines. The Public Works Statement showed us that this was to be the case, as some favoured districts had millions put down for railway extension, while others had not a penny, yet all were made to share alike in taxation, we however succeeded in altering this, as I shall show you presently. The Bill when first introduced contained some objectionable features, and even now does so, for instance, the lowest minimum for valuation was to be one pound. Only fancy, valuing thousands of acres in either Nelson or Marlborough at such a minimum ; but that was altered in Committee. Some of the uufair provisions still remain which I should like to see amended, one being that tenants of the Crown are taxed, never mind how uncertain their tenure is. The Maoris ace entirely exempt, though possessing

c : - • • ;; '.■■.■■ ■■ ■ i-.-. i 1. . '!""■ valuable properties both in town and country, which bring- in large rentals. If you are a tenant of a Maorij you have to pay, but if a Maori ia a tenant of another,, both landlord and, tenant are free, if you or a Maori are tenants of a European, . the landlord pays. These are. some of the unfair provisions amongst others that I should like to see amended. The addition to the revenue from this tax is iv round numbers estimated at £100,000, but as it will only be in operation for six months before the end of the financial year, only 'half that can be relied on in aid of revenue after deducting cost of collection 'which is supposed to be about £10.000. ' '" ; EDUCATION, BILL. : v The next important Bill, though not a Government measure, was introduced by Mr Curtis, the member for the City, of Nelson, to amend the Education Act. Although not successful in 'carrying it he came out with the respectable minority of six votes, which I think shows that there is every hope of carrying' it next? session, as it appears to be mord clearly seen, the evident injustice to >one large section of the community, who cannot avail themselves]of our present system of colonial education, and also shows that 1 a feeling is growing that it would be adyisable to amend the present Act/ so. as to allow the Roman Catholics toestablish their own schools under ify = sd ! lam in hopes Mi Curtis will be suc-i cessful in carrying his amendment next ; session. '. , ■; . ■ -; ; ; ■ •-•.■ ' ;' SHEEP BILLi ; n ! There were the usual number of other Bills, of more or less.importance, one especially interesting to an. agricultural and pastoral community, the Scab Bill, which is a very' stringent" measure, and will press hard, by 'fines and penalties, upon any sheep- owner ! ,i£' his flock ia unfortunately diseased; butthe most severe clauses will 'not come' into operation in the districts' of Nelson and Marlboroiigh for some years, in order to give people ample time' to clean ' their flocka. This meets withthe assent of those who have rough country, 1 and' difficulty in mustering, but others' object who are more favorably situated. However, it is. impossible to please all, and it was considered more merciful to allow plenty of time to people ; to clean ; their flocks before they were subject to heavy fines. ; / < : I'UBLIC WOR&S PQLIGr. "' I will now allude to the. Public f Works policy. When the Minister ! made his Statement, we from Nelson could hardly believe wo heard aright, that it was the intention of 'the Government to leave Nelson and 1 Marlborough dub of the. railway scheme altogether for a penod of five years, almost every other part of the colony being provided for excepting ourselves, Ofcago and Canterbury getttug the' largest share* The sum of £3,605,000 was set down to be expended on railways in this island, out of which Mr Macandrew proposed to spend -in Otago £1,890,000, just £184,000 more than half of the sum put down for expenditure. Canterbury and Weatland were to get the reaiaiuder, Nelson and Marlborough not one sixpence. Then for the North Island large sums were put down for railway construction through native lands, where not only had no surveyor ever been, but the native owners had not given their consent for a line to • pass through their country. Upon seeing this most glaring injustice, not only to ourselves but to such a large portion of the North Island, the Nelson members immediately took action in the matter, and endeavored by all the means in their power to induce the Governmont to modify their scheme, ao as to include every part of the colony; At the same time the Nelson people became alarmed, held meetings, and passed resolutions, in addition to which two able letters were published, from the Bishop of Nelson and Me Acton Adams, setting out our case and laying ouc just claims before the Government, Parliament, and the country. All this very much strengthened the han£s of the ■ members, so that after a short skirmish on the second reading of the Railway Construction Bill, which was to ; put the proposals of the Government into law, the Government saw that a determined stand was to be made, and, that the sympathy of, the House was with Nelson and they consented to place £00,000 on the Estimates for the extension of the E0xhi11.,.,; Railway, about ten miles beyond Bell Grove, making . altogether r : about thirteen miles from the present : ter^ minus, at a coat of about ,£(55,000, which sum has been voted. This is the result of our united eftbrta, one link more in our connection with the West

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"Coast. lam glad to see in the papers that there is every probability of the tenders for the extension being ebon called for, but nevertheless ifc would tie advisable to still continue our watch-; fulness, and to iise every endeavor to have the works rapidly proceeded with. OTHER MEASUBES. You all know that the vote which we obtained for the Wairoa Bridge the. session peforelast has again passed, and after a little trouble we succeeded in getting teqdere called for, which have since been peceptecj, and I think it will be a good substantial work, and a credit to the district;' besides this vote fqr the Wairba Bridge of. £4,899, there are other votes for the Nelson district which I will read.-- -Bai Valley Road £500, not includiag £300 required out of vote last year; road, Nelson to Tophouse and Tarndale, £1197; bridge over Buller River, on main road from Nelson to Reefton, £4000; road to Stanley Brook, £700; road from Motupiko to the Lyell by the Ittdpo, £1400; Takaka roads, £1200; making altogether nearly £14,000. In addition to these there has been a sum of £29,000 voted for roads and bridges on that part of the West Coast included iv the Nelson district, principally in the Ahaura, .Nelaon Creek and Buller Valley, so you ne'e we are getting a little public money spirit in our districts, independently- of -railways. I should strongly recommend all Road Board who have the money placed to their credit, to get it paid as soon as possible through the County Council for if the vote lapses this year, as some of them did last, year, we have had an intimation from the Minister of Public "Works, that the Government would noj; again renew them. I have now told you all that I thought would interest you, by glancing over the principal measures of the Government, and expressing my opinion upon them, and alluding to the money votes for the different districts, but if I should have omitted and subject in which any of you are interested I shall bo glad to answer any questions you may put to me. Mr Hahknebs was not quite clear whether Mr Richmond had supported the Beer Tax. For his own part he thought it was a perfeotly fair tax. The cry about «• robbing a poor man of his beer" was all bosh, as the poor man ought never, to be called upon to pay the tax. The brewers could well afford to pay the trifle of three half pence a gallon, or, for the matter of that, sixpence a gallon if ifwas necessary. Mr Malcolm: You stated that you were not in favor of class legislation, and yet you supported Mr Curtis amendment to the Education Bill. Can you say why the Roman Catholics shoud have greater privileges than any other denomination? Mr Richmond: The Catholics, in accordance with their religious principles, cannot come under tbe present i system, and consequently about oneeighth of the entire population are debarred from participating iv the State education, while at the same time they have to pay the rates. Mr Malcolm: Would you support the same for any other denomination? Mr Richmond : I know of none other whose religion scruples prevent them coming under the existing system. I should like to see an < Act for the colony' as nearly similar to the Nelson Act as ifc could be made. Mr Babnicoai said that the Bill brought in by Mr Curtis was nearly a copy of the Nelson Act, and he should be very glad to see the present Act amended in that direciion, not that he would support anything brought forward specially in favor of the Catholics. It was true that it so happened that they benefitted most by the Nelson Act, but he was entirely averse to legislating for one denomination more than another, No further question being asked, Mr Babnicoat piopoeed a vote of thanks to Mr Richmond for the clear and frank exposition of his -views, acts, and principles, and for the services he had rendered as their member. They had given him their confidence some time ago, and he saw no reason for withdrawing it, as he had faithfully advocated their interests. He was sorry there were not more present, but that could scarcely be expected J'at the present time of tbe year. However, he hoped that the Press would give those who were absent the opportunity ot perusing their representative's address. Mr Hahkness seconded the motion, which was unanimously carried. Mr Siohmokd thanked them for such an expression of their confidence.

He had no desire to be egotistical, but he thought he might say he had done ail in his power, and had worked as hard for them as any man coaid have done. He did not think that any one of his constituents could say that he had left a letter unanswered or an, application unattended to. A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the proceedings.